Some wireless communication protocols use radio communication in frequency ranges that are subject to national radio frequency spectrum regulations, which means that e.g. allowed frequency bands and power levels may differ from country to country or from region to region.
One example of such a wireless communication protocol is Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) operating in the GHz range. In European countries DECT uses the original DECT frequency range of 1880-1900 MHz with ten carriers and a 250 mW peak transmit power level, while in the US DECT uses the Unlicensed Personal Communications Services (UPCS) frequency range of 1920-1930 MHz with five carriers and a 100 mW peak transmit power level. Other examples are that China uses the frequency range of 1900-1920 MHz, Latin American countries the frequency range of 1910-1930 MHz, while other countries, such as India, do not allow DECT at all.
DECT is, among other applications, used for communication between a headset and a base station or a dongle connected to a computer. The use of Unified Communications (UC), which is an integration of real time communication services such as instant messaging, presence information, telephony, video, data sharing, etc., is growing, and therefore an increase in the use of soft phone applications on personal computers (incl. Apple Mac computers) can also be expected. Such soft phone applications typically use a headset as the audio endpoint, and as mentioned above such headsets may use DECT as the wireless communication profile.
The different national/regional regulations for wireless communication protocols, such as DECT, means that manufacturers of devices using these communication protocols need to produce or configure (and keep in stock) the devices in different versions and to ensure that only the version complying with the regulations of a given country or region is delivered and sold in that country or region, because devices produced or configured to another country or region would probably not be in compliance with the local regulations.
Further, today it is common that people travel all over the world, and it would therefore often occur that a user of e.g. a DECT headset allowed in one region would carry his equipment to another region, where its use is not allowed. For instance, if a DECT headset configured for use in a European country is brought to and operated in the US, it would operate in a frequency band that is reserved for other uses in the US, and it would therefore probably interfere with other devices using that frequency band.
To solve these problems it has been suggested to adapt such devices to be configured to a configuration profile in accordance to its location.
From GB 2 436 187 it is known that a communication device can select a radio access technology in dependence of a location determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS). However, the additional cost and space requirements of integrating a GPS receiver in the device make this solution less suited for use in a headset.
US 2011/0312314 describes a system in which e.g. a DECT device scans the local environment for other DECT signals to determine if its own operating, characteristics are like or different from those in the vicinity of the device. If they are different the device modifies its operating characteristics to correspond to those used in the vicinity. However, this system assumes that devices in the vicinity are operating according to the local regulations, which might not always be the case. For instance, in an airport the devices in the vicinity of a given device could well be other devices that have just been switched on after arrival from a region with different regulations, and in that case the device would adjust to the wrong profile and start transmitting on frequencies that are not allowed in this region.
Another solution is described in US 2012/0051262, in which a mobile communication device configuration unit is adapted to detect region data from a computing device communicating with the mobile communication device and to responsively select a configuration profile from a number of configuration profiles stored in a memory. The use region may be identified using a country code identifier that is stored by the operating system of the computer. The operating system may be a Microsoft Windows™ operating system such as Windows 7™, which stores country code identifiers indicating the country of use. However, these identifiers are a part of the installation of the computer, and they are not changed when the computer is moved from one country to another. Thus the travelling problem mentioned above is not solved by this solution.